QUOTE OF THE DAY “I hope this doesn’t hurt coal.” West Virginian Bonnie Wireman, 81, on the coal-processing chemical spill that has left 300,000 without tap water for days Article, this page4th-floor balcony collapse kills 1, hurts 2
PHILADELPHIA - A fourth-floor balcony collapsed during a birthday party at a Philadelphia apartment, killing a man and injuring two women, police said Sunday.
The 22-year-old man, who suffered severe head and neck injuries in the fall late Saturday, was pronounced dead at a hospital early Sunday.
The man and two women were attending a party in the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood and had stepped out onto the balcony to smoke cigarettes when the collapse occurred, authorities said.
The two women are in their 20s and suffered broken bones in their backs. They were listed in stable condition at two city hospitals.
Officials from the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections are investigating.
Shortly after the accident, the Fire Department said a fire escape landing had collapsed. But police said later Sunday that it was a balcony.
The crash occurred at the historic John C. Bell building, which was converted into apartments decades ago.
Built in 1906, the building is on the National Register of Historic Places and is named for a former Pennsylvania attorney general who lived there.
Christmas arrives for 6 on space station
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Six space station astronauts finally got their Christmas presents Sunday with the arrival of a privately launched supply ship that took an extra month to arrive.
The astronauts opened the capsule a day early and started removing items after the Orbital Sciences Corp.
vessel was moored safely at the International Space Station. Packed inside were 3,000 pounds of groceries, equipment and experiments, as well as Christmas gifts from their families back home and some fresh fruit from NASA.
The Virginia company was supposed to make the delivery last month, well before Christmas, but had to wait because of a space station breakdown in mid-December.
NASA bumped the flight to this month so it could repair the disabled cooling system at the orbiting outpost.
Then cold weather at the launch site at Wallops Island, Va., and a solar storm forced delays.
The astronauts were supposed to wait until today to open the capsule. But with presents from their families awaiting them, they couldn’t resist.
Man wanted in strip-club slayings caught
NEWARK, N.J. - A man wanted in the slayings of three people inside a northern New Jersey strip club on Christmas morning has been captured at his mother’s home in Florida, authorities said Sunday.
Nineteen-year-old Anthony Fields of Newark, N.J., was arrested in Orlando early Sunday by FBI agents, the Essex County prosecutor’s office said. Chief of Detectives Anthony Ambrose said his office plans to have Fields extradited to New Jersey, where his bail will be $2 million.
Fields faces three counts of murder and two counts of aggravated assault in the shooting at Slick’s Go Go Bar in Irvington, about 15 miles west of New York City. Authorities said the shooting occurred when Fields apparently tried to enter the bar with a gun but was stopped by a bouncer.
The three men killed included the club’s owner, Pierre Clervoyant, 34, of Elizabeth, and a club employee, Woodley Daniel, 32, of Irvington. The other man slain was 27-year-old Mushir Curetonnot of Newark, who police have said appeared to be an unintended target.
Two other men were wounded in the shooting, but both are expected to recover from their wounds.
Recovery of bodies at crash site on hold
BOISE, Idaho - When Dellon Smith spotted the wreckage of his older brother’s airplane on the side of a central Idaho mountain, he started running.
“It’s hard to sprint in snowshoes, but we did,” Smith said after finding the snow-covered aircraft, bringing an end to a six-week search. “I just wanted to run as fast as I could, and I knew it was a very sacred place to me.”
Bad weather Saturday turned back a recovery team attempting to reach the wreckage of the small aircraft that went down in early December, killing 51-year-old pilot Dale Smith, a Silicon Valley executive, and four of his family members.
There were no plans to make another attempt Sunday, but a meeting will be held today to consider options for reaching the remote crash site and removing the five bodies, Valley County Sheriff Patti Bolen said.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 01/13/2014